Federal Student Loan Cohort Default Rate

The U.S. Department of Education annually publishes the official cohort default rates
for domestic and foreign schools that have 30 or more student borrowers who enter
into repayment status on their loan(s) in a federal fiscal year. The federal fiscal
year begins October 1st and ends September 30th.

It is all of a college's current and former students who during a fiscal year enter
into repayment status of any Direct Subsidized Loan, Direct Unsubsidized Loan, or
Federal Stafford Loan they received to attend college.

The cohort of students who enter into repayment status is monitored for a three year
period. The number of students who enter into a default status during those three
years become the numerator and the total number of cohort students become the denominator,
which results in a percentage.

Example:

Total number of students who enter repayment status in fiscal year 2013 AND default in fiscal years 2013, 2014, and 2015
Total borrowers who enter repayment status during fiscal year 2013

In this example, the cohort default rate is scheduled to be published in 2016.